Okedo |
By ADA
DIKE
The
name, ‘Unlimited’ rings a bell in the midst of people who admire the
craftsmanship of the highly talented-shoes-designing man whose stock in trade
is the manufacturing of different foot-wears with artistic depth through
assistance from locally fabricated small machines, making many wonder how he
finishes his products very neatly, without traces of defects common in many
locally made shoe designers products in Lagos.
Born
Francis Okedo, he operates an obscure shoe-making workshop in Ikosi-Love-All
area of Ketu in Lagos.
Okedo
is popular in the neighbourhood he operates in, but not many people know his
original name, and they simply call him ‘Unlimited’ wherever he goes in the
vicinity of his operational zone. Despite the fact that he has no signpost
that could advertise his business, people who have been familiar with his
exceptional expertise in designing or repairing shoes come from far and near
places to patronise him.
According to Okedo, apart from artistic
skills, he uses industrial sewing machine, shoe lass of assorted designs,
scissors, electric stove, hammer, filing machine and sand paper, among others
to work.
During an interaction with Daily Newswatch, he said “Shoe designing art belongs
to a branch of fashion designing, whereby one specialises in creating shoes
which customers will hopefully purchase at a store or from the internet. But,
before entering into the career shoe design field, an individual must know how
to become a shoe designer with artistic creativity.”
He also enlightens that: “There are some basic things a shoe designer must know
how to do well as an artist to create great designs that could attract
customers’ interest. To start with, you have to choose an area of shoe design
you are interested in, by specialising in creating specific types of shoes such
as men shoes, women's or children's shoes, safety boots, athletic shoes or
sandals. Belts are also part of shoe designing.”
Beaming
further on the subject, Okedo says “You can start on your own by practicing the
simple skills and qualities needed for footwear designing by drawing on plain
papers, sewing synthetic leather and understanding pure leather. There are
different types of leather, and you need to know the types that are suitable
for the kind of design or shoe you want to make. Some leathers are very soft
and somehow elastic, while others are strong and stiff.
“But
if you want to quickly acquire or update your skill in shoe making, you can
register as an apprentice with a good shoe designing outfit that practically
knows the art very well. Make sure you concentrate when any style is being
drawn or sketched by your trainer. Some shoe designers have impressive
portfolio of shoe design sketches that show artistic ability. What makes some
apprentices fail to come out with neat jobs when they venture into shoe making
could be traced to too much theoretical orientation without constant practical
training.
“Your ability to learn also depends not only on the high level of skills your
trainer has, but your personal creative ability and tendency to observe and
remember how some designs are done. This means you need a jotter or note book
apart from your drawing book, to write down some vital points especially when
it involves complex designs.
“Children’s shoes are the most difficult to design and sew, because of their
small size nature. Machines used for sewing children shoes are very rare in
Nigeria. That is why you see that most local shoe makers don’t produce children
shoes. But in most places, what you see are ‘palm-sandals’ which are the
easiest footwear any averagely skilled shoe designer can make. This still
depends on how neat the work could be after production.”
Commenting on the
low quality of shoes produced by many local shoe designers, “Unlimited Plc” as
Okedo the Anambra-born shoe expert is also popularly called, says “You can
choose to stay for a long time with the shoe designer that trained you, by
working for a while with him to acquire more experience before starting your
own shoe designing shop. But the haste by many people to start making money
quickly, does not allow them to gain the necessary skills before rushing to
start their own shoe manufacturing business.”
In view of the
challenges he has been facing in the business, he laments bitterly about the
constant power outage in the country. “Frequent power outage has been the major
challenge many shoe designers have been facing. Most shoe designers rely on
generators to file their shoes. Without constant light availability, there is
nothing one can do other than using generator. Shoe production business is
mostly light reliant. The only time you don’t necessarily need light is when
you are sketching. But light is very important to either file heels or to sew
leathers especially, if you are using an electric machine,” he explained.
He also mentioned
other challenges local shoe designers have been facing, as he emphasises that
“The importation of very low grade shoes from Dubai and China over the years,
is one other reason some big and small local Nigerian shoe-manufacturing
companies collapsed. I used to receive invitation some shoe shops and
manufacturers during pre-school resumption time, to produce students’ shoes in
large quantity. But since the entry of Dubai and China low quality shoes into
Nigeria, people started ignoring high quality locally made shoes.”
As regards his
area of specialization in shoe designing, the shoe wizard otherwise called
‘Anjonu’ by Yoruba neighbours who admire his skills, does not mince words by
saying “I specialise in the construction of mostly men shoes especially safety
boot for industrial use, but I am not a push-over in the designing of fine
sandals for both ladies, kids and men. Of course, I can also transform any
spoilt shoe, be it a lady, man or kid own, to look cute for the owner to wear
to any occasion. That is why I am called ‘Unlimited’ by those who know me from
time, as my business name.”
About
dwindling patronage over the years and why he no longer displays any signpost
for his business, he explained that since shoe designing art and production had
been affected by importation of low quality shoes, he no longer has the
financial ability to place a sign board outside because of the high tax rate
charged for such by the Lagos State Government.
“People that are already familiar with me over the years usually recommend me
to their friends and family members; so, I am not lacking in moderate
patronage. Sometime ago, I was surprised when some people called from Abuja and
told me that someone directed them to me that I could repair their costly shoes
that had been spoilt by some local shoe-shiners who parade themselves as shoe
makers or designers,” he explained.
No comments:
Post a Comment